The Strokes return with 'Reality Awaits' and their first full UK tour in two decades

The Strokes are back. The New York band, whose 2001 debut 'Is This It' helped define a generation of guitar music, will release their seventh studio album 'Reality Awaits' on 26 June via Cult Records and RCA, their first new full-length in six years.

The release arrives in tandem with an expansive world tour that runs from June through October 2026 and takes in the UK, mainland Europe, North America and Japan. For British fans, the dates carry particular weight: this marks the band's first full UK tour in twenty years, a gap that has only sharpened anticipation among a fanbase that has watched the group tour sporadically and selectively over the past two decades.

Recorded in Costa Rica with producer Rick Rubin and finished across several international locations, 'Reality Awaits' has been described by guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. as a looser, more relaxed record than the band's recent work, the product of an unusual writing environment far from the studios of New York.

A house on a mountain

The album's origins lie in a deliberate decision to escape familiar surroundings. Rubin, the famously instinct-driven producer, encouraged the band to set up and play outdoors, an approach he framed as a way of stripping back the self-consciousness that can creep into a long-running group's process.

“We rented this house up on the top of a mountain and set the band up outside, playing out in the open.”

— Rick Rubin, producer

That open-air, low-pressure setting appears to have shaped the record's character. Where parts of the band's catalogue have leaned tight and tense, early descriptions of 'Reality Awaits' emphasise space and looseness, the sound of a band rediscovering the pleasure of simply playing together.

First full UK run in twenty years

The tour, first announced in April, opens in North America in mid-June before sweeping through festival season and into a substantial autumn run across Europe and the UK. Two nights at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado in late July sit among the marquee American dates, while appearances at Japan's Summer Sonic festivals anchor the Asian leg in August.

The European and British shows in October are where the long-term faithful will feel the return most acutely, with arena dates lined up in major capitals. A varied cast of support acts will join across the run, spanning genres and scenes.

• Album: 'Reality Awaits' out 26 June 2026 (Cult Records / RCA)
• Producer: Rick Rubin, recorded in Costa Rica and finished internationally
• North America: dates from mid-June including Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto
• Red Rocks Amphitheatre: two nights, late July
• Japan: Summer Sonic festival appearances in August
• UK and Europe: October dates including The O2 in London, Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam and Accor Arena in Paris
• Support acts across the run include Thundercat, Cage the Elephant, Hamilton Leithauser, Fat White Family and Alex Cameron

Why it matters

The Strokes occupy a peculiar place in modern rock. Few bands of the 21st century have been so influential on so little new material; their early records cast a long shadow over British indie in particular, shaping the sound of countless guitar bands that followed. Their relative scarcity on the road has only added to the sense of occasion when they do appear.

A new album paired with a genuine, full-length UK tour is therefore a bigger event than the band's modest release schedule might suggest. It offers a chance for older fans to revisit a foundational sound and for younger listeners, raised on the band's outsized legacy, to see them in the flesh for the first time.

Background

Formed in New York in 1998, The Strokes broke through with 'Is This It' in 2001 and were quickly positioned at the centre of an early-2000s rock revival. Albums including 'Room on Fire' and 'First Impressions of Earth' followed, before the band's output slowed and members pursued solo and side projects. Their 2020 album 'The New Abnormal' won a Grammy for Best Rock Album, confirming that the group could still command critical attention decades into their career.

What happens next: with 'Reality Awaits' due imminently and the tour already under way in North America, the focus shifts to how the new material lands and whether the autumn UK shows reignite the band's relationship with a British audience that helped make them stars. Two decades is a long time between full tours. The reception this autumn will tell the band how much that absence was felt.